Polish–Ottoman War (1485–1503)

Polish–Ottoman War (1485–1503)

Cherubin Gniewosz in the battle of Suceava in 1497 (original by J. Kossak, c. 1890)
Date1485–1503
Location
Wild Fields, Moldavia, south of Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Result Moldavian-Ottoman victory
Territorial
changes
Moldavia gets Pokuttia
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire
Crimean Khanate
Moldavia
Kingdom of Poland
Duchy of Masovia
Teutonic Order
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Commanders and leaders
Bayezid II
Meñli I Giray
Stephen the Great
Casimir IV Jagiellon
John I Albert
Johann von Tiefen
Semyon Olshanski

The Polish–Turkish War of 1485–1503 was a prolonged conflict, rather a series of conflicts, between the Kingdom of Poland and the Ottoman Empire. The conflict formally lasted eighteen years, but during this time hostilities were ceased on several occasions due to temporary treaties being signed between the warring parties.

In the war the Kingdom of Poland was supported by its fiefs, the Duchy of Mazovia and the State of the Teutonic Order, as well as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Ottoman Empire on the other hand, was allied with the Crimean Khanate and by the Principality of Moldavia during the Moldavian Campaign of 1497–1499.

For most of the 15th century, Moldavia was a vassal of Poland, but other states, notably the Kingdom of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate, meanwhile tried to subdue Moldavia. After the Fall of Constantinople (1453), the Ottomans directed their expansion northwards towards the lower Danube and behind the mighty river and also threatened Poland.